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Food blog #2: Vegetable Lasagna Florentine

Sounds delicious, huh? I’ve been cooking all weekend, trying out new recipes. My first risotto turned out awesome, my crepes were ok (too pancake-like but the Nutella inside still made them good!), and my lasagna was really yummy! I even used mushrooms, which was a first for me! Ok, here’s how I made it, and I hope I remember everything! I’m sure you will figure it out if I do. (Oh, and I was too lazy to do anything with the pictures – straight from the camera…) I found a recipe on-line to help me get started – what all veggies I would need and then used a version of my sauce.

Vegetable Lasagna Florentine

1 box lasagna noodles 1 pkg frozen spinach

2-3 baby bella mushrooms, sliced 1 zucchini, sliced

1 small onion, chopped sliced carrots (I used 4 baby carrots)

1-2 cans tomato sauce 1 can diced tomatoes

1 small can tomato paste (if needed) 1-2 tsp oregano

1-2 Tbsp parsley minced garlic (however much you like)

olive oil 1-2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp sugar 1 container ricotta cheese

1 pkg shredded mozzerella or italian blend cheese

OK, I started by getting the pasta cooked. While that’s going, chop the veggies.

Chopped onions!

Sliced Zucchini (Yum)

Is this how you slice a mushroom?

Chopped veggies for your sauce

When you are done chopping, it’s time to saute the veggies. Heat up a medium sized skillet then add some olive oil, then the veggies. After a minute or so, add some minced garlic, salt and pepper. Saute until the zucchini is tender.

Colorful plethera of veggies 🙂

Once they are done, add them to a saucepan, and add the cans of tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. If it’s too thin, add some tomato paste a little at a time until it thickens. Add the basil, oregano, parsley, sugar, some more garlic if you wish, and some italian seasoning.

Voila! (I would suggest making more than this, mine needed more sauce)

Take the spinach and saute it the same way you did the veggies – in olive oil with some garlic. Once that is done, mix it together with half of the container of ricotta and add some basil. (Kind of like what you’d put inside manicotti.)

I bake it at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, until it’s heated through.

Cheesy, saucy Italian goodness.

Add a slice of garlic bread and you’ve got a meal. It would have been even better with a glass of red wine, but I was fresh out, it was Sunday, and I live in Indiana….well, no wine this time! 😦 But it was still a great vegetarian dinner (mushrooms and all)!

More on the Nutella crepes and other delicious things to put Nutella on/in soon… 🙂 🙂